The present invention generally relates to finger rings and bands, and more specifically to resizable finger ring.
Properly sized rings or bands provide a close-fitting, comfortable fit which allows the ring to be easily placed and removed from a wearer's finger, feel comfortable to the wearer, and not unintentionally slide off of the wearer's finger. Rings are initially sized to fit a particular finger of one wearer. However, if the physical characteristics of the wearer change, such as change in body weight or other growth of the wearer, or if the wearer desires to wear the ring on a different finger or give the ring to another person with different-sized fingers. The ring would either be too tight or too loose to be worn properly, if at all.
Known methods for altering the size of a ring involve cutting and removing, adding, or entirely replacing a portion of the shank of the ring. This process leaves an opening in the shank with two ends. Once the portion is removed, the shank is subjected to either; 1) compression, forcing the two ends together and then joining them, forming a smaller sized ring; or 2) expansion, forcing the two ends further apart and then joining a new, larger piece or additional material of material between them, forming a larger-sized ring. This is an expensive method which may causes mutilation of the ring, ruining its aesthetic beauty and decreasing its value. It also requires repeated mutilation if further adjustments in size are required.
To obviate this difficulty it has been suggested that an adjustable ring be constructed of multiple sections slidably linked together and provided with a spring arrangement for biasing the respective links into a position corresponding to the smallest of a range of sizes. Among the advantages attributed to these structures is the ability of the ring to adjust to the size of the finger of the wearer. The structures proposed in the prior art have been found to be impractical and thus have not come into any appreciable use by jewelry manufacturers.
Thus, there is a need for an adjustable finger ring which allows for easy and repeated expansion and contraction of a ring size and which does not contain numerous small parts which are easily lost or broken. The adjustments can be made and sized by jewelers without special skills or special equipment.